Wilson's Adventure Racing, Multisport & Triathlon Sanctuary

Sportzhub.com, although very NZ-focused, is still my favourite place to go hunting for meaningful and valuable AR-specific news and articles. Here's a nice article i've reproduced from it (see here).

When you ask an athlete about how their training is going you will usually get one of the following answers:

* They talk about how much mileage that they have been doing.
* They talk about how hard they have been training
* They talk about the amount of the hill work they have been doing.

It's interesting because not a single person that I have ever talked to, has mentioned how accurately they have been training.

High performance is all about:

* Setting a goal
* Defining a sequence of tasks to reach the goal effectively
* Actioning each task as well as you can in the right order

To describe this in a little more detail:

1. Setting the goal
Setting the goal is pretty obvious.
Where do you want to go?
What do you want to do?
You might end up with the goal of doing your first triathlon, doing the Coast to Coast, training for Ironman, a Marathon or 160 kilometre bike ride. You have your goal. You have answered the ‘what' question.

Example:
Goal: I would like to be a stronger 10km runner.

2. Defining a sequence of tasks to reach the goal effectively
You now have to work out how you will achieve the goal. You have to define a series of step by step tasks that will take you from where you are now, through to achieving the goal. This can be set as a plan or training programme. This plan allows you to clearly pinpoint the actions that are most likely to get the result that you are looking for in the most efficient way possible. The better the plan, the less training time and energy you will waste.
I have often asked athletes what their goal is and most people can state quite clearly what they would like to achieve. When I then ask them how they intend to achieve the goal, more often than not there is a stunned silence. They have the goal but have not worked out a process to achieve it. A goal without a plan is
* at worst a ‘wish'
* and at best a haphazard series of efforts that are moving in the right direction some of the time. (a lot effort and time is unproductive.)

A goal and a plan should always occur together.


3. Actioning each task in the plan as well as you can
This brings me to the point of this article. Once you have the goal and the plan, you're now ready to put the time and effort into training because you know that it will be spent wisely.

Once you walk out the door it is all about the accuracy with which we carry out the workout.

Here is an example of a workout in your plan. You would make sure before you went out the door that you:
* Know what you're doing today (Hill Efforts 4 - 6 x 400m)
* Know how it fits into the overall plan (the ‘big picture')
* Clearly understand how this is moving you closer to your goal
* Know what you need to do to get the most out of this workout (key points, heart rate, speed etc)
* Know when to back off, stop or when you don't need to keep pushing


If you do this, the accuracy of your training will be very high providing the most result for the least time and effort. Most people think that this is the domain of the ‘time starved' ‘nine to fiver' but it applies to the elite athletes as well. The best athletes get more result from each workout.

Another word for accuracy of training is quality. The more accurate you're training, the higher the quality of the workout. Most people once again talk about doing a ‘quality workout' when they mean doing a very intense training session. It's not a ‘quality' workout unless it's accurate.


Top quality training is not about the training volume, the training intensity or how many hills you did, they are all subsets of how well you fulfilled the objectives that you planned. Therefore if someone asks you how your workout went today, you should be most interested in telling him or her what your objectives were and how accurately your training was. For every workout that goes by, for every week that goes by, for every month that goes by, if you are focused on accurate training, you are improving just that little bit more than you might have done. Over time this adds up to a significant difference!


Accuracy of training is what separates most of the good athletes from everyone else.

Jon Ackland is an exercise consultant for Performance Lab, who has been training athletes (Novice to Elite) for 15 years. The author of a number of books including the best selling "The Power to Perform", as well as "The Performance Log", "Precision Training" and "Spinning". .Jon is the director of Performance Lab where he tests and consults people of all levels helping them to train for sport, recreation and health. Ph 09 480-1422, Fax : 09 480-1423

Dirtier as time goes by, but also happier!

Please excuse the messy clump of pictures above! Here's the article proper....

BMC 100km Classic MTB Race Report
By Wilson Low

Event: BMC 100km Classic MTB Race

Date: 20 April 2008

Location: Woodend, Victoria, Australia

Course distances: 100km, 50km, 18km (Junior)

Weather: 11º-24º, morning low-level fog clearing to blue, sunny skies.


0km: Woke up at 4 am earlier, drove like a zombie, and even had a snooze in the car halfway because I was just not used to the early hour. Still, a nice sunrise provides a minor reward as riders prepare to push off from the start. The turnout for this inaugural event is awesome: 770 riders spread throughout the three course distances.
It’s slightly foggy, and definitely chilly! I’m dressed and packed light, wearing only a nylon windbreaker and a Buff, in addition to my jersey, shorts and full-finger gloves, to fend off the cold. However, there’s the matter of my one-kg video camera that I have to haul through the upcoming 100km. I meet Mark ‘Sooty’ Barends on the finish line just seconds before the horn blows. What a rush… guess we’ll have to catch up – and play catch-up – on the trails instead!

22km: We’ve done a fair bit of singletrack already, and I don’t mind the waiting and the easy pace within a long conga line of riders, as long as we don’t stop. Following too eagerly on someone’s wheel, I nearly come to grief on a tree in the middle of the trail. Anyway, I make the best use of it and stop for a snack and a photo session. Picking an alternate line away from other riders on a 4WD track, I have an argument with an extra-deep rut and get showered with mud. Grey spatters and flecks coat my bike, my legs and my glasses, then hardens; even my bottles are given a mud coating - when I lift my bottle to my lips for a swig of Gatorade, I taste the acid, mineral soil as well. Ashley Crowther passes me by, and I’m so surprised that I drop my bottle! A while later, I’m chatting with him on the wider, non-tricky 4WD tracks.

43km: Ash has pulled ahead, but I’m still leap-frogging with Sooty. A sweet plank bridge crossing is too good to not capture on camera. Log rollovers and minor log drops that seem to attract their fair share of ‘foot dabs’ whenever a chainring gets too friendly with the woodwork. Such obstacles are in abundance throughout the singletrack in the Wombat State Forest section of the event. Some riders get off and push on the narrower bridges, but generally everything can be rolled over without a hitch. My strategy is to enjoy the fun stuff and get over the boring bits as fast as possible. Getting into a flow is effortless in the narrow stuff as there are no major climbs or scary descents. Only out on the fire trails and 4WD tracks do I push the pace a bit.

52km: On a narrow off-camber descent into another gully, there’s a backed-up line of riders. Someone’s standing by the trailside, holding his arm gingerly. He’s dislocated his shoulder following a bad crash, and the next aid station is 10 km away. He’s waiting for someone to pop his shoulder back, but none of the riders currently present know how to, including myself. Someone with the requisite experience will eventually roll up, but I’m doubtful he’ll complete the ride even once his shoulder is restored. I myself do a small endo, and wonder whether I’ve sprained my right middle finger. Feels OK though, despite the adrenaline flowing through me… I can still squeeze the brake lever.

70km: I’m barreling down a singletrack in a pine forest, getting a fairly rigorous core workout, and suffering from a serious case of full-suspension envy. I’m stewing in my own private, pine-scented pot of pain (a good pain, but a pain nonetheless!), for the other 769 riders are nowhere in sight. Numerous dirt rollovers and bumps (hidden rocks and roots) makes it impossible to establish any pedaling rhythm. Still, I feel alert and reasonably energized from the Coke and the energy gels, and relish the opportunities to stand and stretch on the open sections. Every uphill seems a grind now, particularly the gradual fire road climbs that appear to take forever to crest. The granny gear gets some decent usage, but every flat or downhill bit is welcomed with a shift into the big chainring!

96km: The last aid station is two km behind me when my hydration pack runs dry – but that’s OK. Scoffing the last of the Coke, plus two caffeine gels in the last hour has given rise to some interesting caffeine side effects! I feel anxious and jittery, and even the boring fire road climbs see me going wide-eyed and heart rate a-fluttering. Although I’m well-fueled and hydrated to make the whole distance (I haven’t stopped once at any of the aid stations), it takes several minutes before I can come down from that caffeine and sugar rush… just in time for the final bit of flowy singletrack.

100km: I look across a lake and catch my first glimpse of the race finish, and silently utter a prayer of thanks. Just nice. Perfect. Beer ladies are handing out bottles of Hahn’s to finishers, and the atmosphere at the staging area is festive, if relaxed. Timings and placings are far from my mind. Catching up with friends at the finish, oogling and playing with the BMC demo bikes, and taking a couple more happy snaps to help me remember this enjoyable day are what I’m more concerned about! Then it’s a long drive home, the (dreaded) bike clean-up, and back to ordinary life.

Team Melbourne Adventure on the chairlift!

Just finished the Keen Adventure Race the past Saturday! Over 5 days, we had four stages of off-road multisport activities, including a 4 hour prologue; 15+ hour Stage Two; a biggie 40+ hour Stage 3; and a 10 hour last day.



See the complete results here

Here's the link to Brendan's Flickr album. Enjoy!

Stage 1 was a taster of things to come. Had a play around the Falls Creek Lake, ski slopes, and alpine roads, orineteering via paddling and on foot, plus quick connections with the MTB.





Del and Luke going uphill on Stage 1.


Teams getting strung out on the bike course.


Supposed to take 1.5 hours for the fastest teams ,but this stretched out to almost three hours. Some teams took well above six hours, and came back in the dark and gathering cold. Our support crew Jan is waiting for us, and we bundle into the local pizza place for food and more planning.


Jan the (wo)man with Brendan's Subaru Lancaster in rally mode.

Stage 2 was a day of two-wheeled fun, coupled with a run up to Mt. Bogong, the highest point in Victoria. In the mad rush out of the starting chute, one guy breaks his leg in three places on the first section of this stage. It is not good news too for my badly-behaving bike - a broken spoke on a shrub-lined descent meant having to ride with a wonky wheel for the rest of the race. Come dusk, we have a heck of a fun time on a high element section at Bogong Village.


Look down!


Jan waiting for us at the bike/orienteering transition at Bogong Village.

Some good stuff into the night, riding the Mt. Beauty singletrack by the light of our HID and LED systems. Jan is at the finish once more, and shuttles us back to Falls Creek before cooking up a simple but sumptious meal of indian rice and curry.


Cold comfort - a wet start to Stage 3.

Stage 3 was the big one. A day-long celebration of all things AR. Tough navigation, pitch-black night (spent bush whacking and whitewater kayaking, no less), daunting uphills and white-knuckle downhills, and sore feet aplenty. WE navigate around the lake at Falls, then leave the high country for Omeo, our ultimate destination. My bike's rear tire got slashed on one particularly rocky, nasty descent (700m altitude loss in two km!) where we could actually smell the brake pads.


Riding with gusto into transition... seeking a feed.


Darkness falls on the start of the Mitta Mitta river section. Post-paddle, a concave dent on the hull between the two cockpits was testament to how friendly our boat was with the riverbed!

Also, my HID and LED lights failed to fire on this stage as night fell - a disappointing development at this most crucial of junctures. Murphy's Law and the disappointment of having see teams we passed shoot by us aside, we did the damage control thing and kept on truckin'. Not only equipment but bodies as well are pushed to their limits: We run dangerously low on water before finding a stagnant puddle to rehydrate ourselves mid-trek; Brendan's knee plays up and has to take the downhills easy; i slow considerably and start stumbling like a drunk once the cold water hits me while searching for CPs along a boulder-strewn river at dusk on the second day. The "What day is it?" test was administered, and i am happy to report that, judging by Brendan's response (or lack thereof), we were truly in the thick of what the sport we love is all about: losing ourselves in plain, unadulterated, hardcore adventure. Seeing Jan is like seeing an angel: we keep moving towards each transition knowing that she is there to feed, clothe, and send us back out into the bush once more.


Sunset over the Victorian high country.


Planning our orienteering map at the start of Stage 4.


Action in transition!

Stage 4, and we can smell the finish line. We navigate steadily through the opening orienteering course, then a short but fun caving section, before clipping off the kms on the final MTB ride to the coast.


When in a cave, it is certainly hard to dance by the light of an LED headlamp while wearing MTB shoes.

We surprise Jan with a faster-than-expected bike split into the final transition. Not mucking around, we launch the Prijon and set off to make the sand bar cut-off time. Then it's out on the salty brine, keeping one eye on an encroaching southerly storm and another on the shoreline for the lifesaving tower that marks the end of our journey.


Brendan and the boat just before we push off from the last CP... next stop, finish line!

We surf in with a small group of spectators appraising our performance, and before we know it we are hurtling to the finish chute on sand-crusted, rock-battered, seawater-soaked feet that are absolutely begging for mercy.


Woohoo!


Here is our team at the finish line. Notice that i'm being attacked by the hydration hose on my PFD.


FINISH!!

Here's the attrition on my side. The bike-related damages were justifiable, given the roughness of the terrain and the fact that i had a three year-old derailler and wheelset:

- Trail shoe with a torn lace eyelet
- More holes in the good ol' Macpac AMP20 pack
- Gaiters even more furry now
- Rear rerailler replacement
- Total rear wheel re-build: new rim+spokes and tire needed

Still, the mechanicals cost us about 30 minutes of race time. Something to keep in mind for future big events!

Once more, pictures with detailed captions akan datang!

P.S: Just had a chat with Del. Apparently the bike damage on her side is more extensive. Her bike is under renovation for three weeks, with both shocks needing overhauls (including a service stint in Sydney).

Akan datang (coming soon): "Keen Reflections"

Today's 2008 XTERRA Australia heralded the return of the globally popular off-road triathlon series to Aussie soil. I jumped at the chance to do check out this race format, one which i had been eyeing since i did my first triathlon.

Elaine from Melbourne Uni' was also keen to have a crack at the dirt. I arranged to pick her up on race morning, with our bikes on the car rack, gear bags in the back seat, and Up n' Go in our stomachs....


Del's bike (foreground) and mine after unloading from the car.

Just 1.5 hours' drive from downtown Melbourne, heading up for this race was a chance too good to miss, it being my last semester here. This race i considered my last big training day before the 5-day, 4-stage Keen adventure race. Clearly, i had to have my priorities in order - aka, no crazy stuff or big risk-taking today.

We took off from town at 0930 and reached one hour before the race. Rather chilly, so we quickly jumped into the wetsuits and headed for the starting buoys on Daylesford Lake. The pros started on the dot at 1230, i started in the next wave three minutes later, and Elaine's wave another six minutes back.


Preparing transition: all grins now, but will the smiles last when the hurt starts?

Swim: 1000 metre of ice-cream-headache lake water. Had a shocker of a swim start: could not breathe properly on one side and got dropped by the main pack. Methinks i wore my wetty improperly on the left shoulder. Oh well. Still, i got into a rhythm after the halfway mark and made a bit of ground on the field, came out middle of the pack in my category. In transition, i was groggy as hell and had to sit down to take off the clingy neoprene. Elaine's swim split beat mine, alas she also had the groggies upon exiting the ice-cold lake. On with the full-finger gloves and into the saddle!

Bike: 30km off-road? More like 35+km, according to the newly-calibrated speedometer. Generally no major dramas or technically demanding bits. A couple of unclips when the bike started drifting sideways in the mud patches, but other than that pretty straightforward, open and fast. The old flat coke trick (first tried in last year's Anaconda Lorne) seemed to pay dividends, although i would have liked to have a bit more for a little extra alertness on the run leg. Elaine found the bike ride to be the most challenging bit of the race (first time riding a MTB off-road... respect!), but made it through on Del's commuter bike and borrowed MTB shoes with nothing more than mud spatters and an eagerness to get onto the run.

Run: A 2x 5.5km loop of undulating singletrack, steps, walking trails, a double creek crossing (really just a stack of slippery rocks), and the ubiquitous 'Heartbreak Hill' asphalt climb just before transition. Regulated the pace here at about 90% (there's still Keen!), particularly on the first lap. Walked fast on some of the uphills as i saw no point in running them; downhills were just a matter of letting gravity do the work. Elaine mentioned having to remind herself not to jog... it was a race, after all. I saw a couple of guys turn their ankles... ouch!


Elaine heads into the finish chute.

Race overview: I finished with good form (something i always look forward to pulling off, yet not always accomplish), all in all enjoyable, good training, and glad to have made it under the 3-hour mark. I believe Elaine enjoyed her race as well, even as a first-timer MTB racer. She even mentioned wishing for more uphills on the bike (as opposed to the more imposing downhills).

See the results here.

Jane Harries (the rogainer) did the sprint event; my TEVA team mate Mark Bubner was there doing the full distance; so did Liz - she came in second in her age group; Steve White and Snowy from swim squad had a bash too; while Jarad the trail running guru made good with a third-place pro finish.

I keep seeing the same faces at the races, but certainly the standards of competition keep fluctuating, depending on who's attending. This one was certainly a step up from the TriX three weeks prior. This time there were international pros and age groupers from Japan, NZ, the US having a go.

The format certainly appeals to a wide range of athletes, and the crossover potential between adventure racing and traithlon cannot be ignored. No wonder XTERRA is huge in the US.


Post-race snack. Where's the Powerbars?

We met up with a dude called Ryan who would be doing the Singapore 70.3 Ironman this September, and he enthused that an ideal spot for an off-road triathlon in Singapore would perhaps be at MacRitchie. I certainly agreed with him, but it may be some time before that becomes a reality - swimming in the reservoir needs approval. I say, if kids can paddle their K1s and K2s (and, by extension capsize countless times) at MacRitchie, surely, there can be provision for swimming as well?

OK folks, just a quickie post here...

Wowee! This year Melbourne comes out tops, again, as the sporting capital of the whole wide world! Check out this press release.

So what is the significance of this result? It simply means that this is where it's happening, folks! Melbourne is more than just about cafes, trams, and Dame Edna Everage (local comedian Barry Humphries who cross-dresses and takes the piss - sort of an Aussie Liang Xi Mei). It's very tempting to call myself a Melburnian, but i won't. Home is still where the heart is, after all.

I leave you with some quick pics of the TriX off-road triathlon that happened two weeks ago....



Nathan and friend at their gear booth.




Transition!



Jarad Kohlar out of the water, beginning the chase for the top spot.



Sweet bushland hills for biking on - the Commonwealth Games trail gets a workout.



Liz Mulconry is pleased with her second place finish.

Left: I do my best not to break the rocks with my body whenever i take on this part of the Commonwealth Games XC course.

Hehehehehe....

i'm fairly seething with excitement about what the weekend will bring. First up is XTERRA Australia (1000m swim/30km MTB/11km trail run) on Saturday at Daylesford. Looks like a whole day affair, but i'm taking it as the last decent hit-out before the main event - the Keen Alps to Ocean Adventure Race. Yup, it's about 400kms of fun from Falls Creek to Lakes Entrance over 5 days. I may paddle a bit on Sunday just to relax... then delivery of the Prijon Excursion sea kayak to the Rapid Ascent office. Monday is totally travelling with Brendan's loaded-up Subaru and Jan as support crew to the race start. We then kick off on Tuesday....

Packing for Keen brought back memories of packing for the big races: XPD, Raid the North Extreme, Sabah Adventure Challenge, even Coast to Coast. It also made me appreciate how EASY logistics for a triathlon is in comparison. Sorry my triathlete friends, if you think prepping for your A-priority, swim-bike-run 'race of the year' is a bitch, you ain't seen nothing yet.

But first, XTERRA. Elaine from Melbourne Uni' (Monash's sworn rival institution) is checking it out too. Apparently this SEA Games national athlete is being encouraged by her local training group to 'have a bash' at the off-road format. Good on ya! She managed to get hold of Del's bike (guess who was the middle man?) for this race. We'll drive up to Daylesford early Saturday morning and take it from there....

Elaine does not have any MTB shoes or pedals, and so she asked me whether she could use her road shoes and pedals for the 30km off-road ride, i was like "Errr... what?". Even given the non-technical nature of most XTERRA bike courses, I would not do that. it's a good way to wreck a pair of shoes or pedals, and i told her so. Hope she can find a pair of off-road shoes + pedals soon.... =P